


The Traveller

by Jam



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: M/M, these two have ruined my life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 01:31:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3271823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jam/pseuds/Jam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What usually happened when Kurapika came to visit was business as usual- scolding, arguments - and that was only if Kurapika felt his presence was required in Leorio’s apartment at all. </p><p>(Or: Every goal can be completed.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Traveller

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've released all my emotions for these dumb idiots onto digital paper because they have actually ruined my life, so sorry if it's cringeworthy- this is one of those fics they like to call "self-indulgent", because I'm a horrible person and want to see all my favourite characters having an emotional breakdown. But not sorry. You know what I mean. B)
> 
> Hope you enjoy! c:

What usually happened when Kurapika came to visit was business as usual- scolding, arguments - and that was only if Kurapika felt his presence was required in Leorio’s apartment at all. 

The last thing he expected was the guy not only visiting, but remaining completely silent apart from curt responses made out of obligation.  
After Leorio decided to make them coffee (the response to which was a murmured “no sugar, please”), he sat them both down on the couch. No, he really did have to sit them both down, guiding Kurapika’s unusually tense body by the shoulders in to a more relaxed position.  
Of course he was curious. Of course he wanted to know why the person who he had trusted time and time again, and who he dearly hoped trusted him in the same regard, now couldn’t even meet his eyes. At times like these, he thought it was best to try and ignore the curiousity working in the medical field brought about- the unrelenting urge to poke, prod and investigate.

He knew that was not something Kurapika would like him to do in the slightest, so he plucked a random book from the shelf next to the sofa and handed it to his friend, who, without missing a beat, buried his nose in it for a good half hour. Eventually, his curiousity got the better of him.

“Hey, Kurapika…” He turned to his guest, who stirred, shifting his legs around so they could face each other.

“Hm?”

And suddenly, there they were. The red eyes that were just slightly heated- not the angry, hateful scarlet eyes he saw far too often. They were the eyes that simply portrayed strong, clear emotion, and they were startling. But something was different, he thought. Kurapika normally had reasonable control over emotions other than hate, which meant something was very, very wrong.

“Your eyes…”

The other boy looked uncharacteristically surprised before dropping his head towards his lap.

“I did it,” he sighed, tucking his hair behind one ear in a way that would normally tempt Leorio to dance on tabletops. But this was exactly the wrong time for that, he reminded himself. What he meant by "that", he didn't quite know. So he stuck with a simple inquiry:

“Did what?”

“I got them back.”

There wasn’t any need for clarification on what “they” were. The whole room seemed to sit in stunned silence at the thought of the completion of Kurapika’s goals. 

“Y-y-you,” Leorio spluttered, “The eyes-“ 

All he could do was stare at the top of his friend’s bowed head. He just couldn’t seem to form complete sentences. 

“Yes, I…” 

Neither could Kurapika, evidently. But that was more to do with the fact that the guy had just broken down crying.

Crying. Kurapika. The two words just wouldn’t fit with each other in Leorio’s mind, not even through his usual thought process which was to jam things together and hope everything would work out when it passed his brain-to-mouth filter. It wasn’t that he thought Kurapika was incapable of human emotions, because his entire goal was most likely based around those in the first place, but he just couldn’t imagine the cool and calm Kurapika letting himself go like this. Did he really just say “cool and calm Kurapika”? That made it sound like he was back in school, talking about the person he had the biggest crush on-

 _Stop being an idiot about this, dumbass,_ he scolded himself. _You’re always the calm and cool one. Now just think of a snappy one-liner, or- or maybe a long inspirational action movie-type speech , or… uh..._

He was whisked away from Leorio’s Stupid Land of Thoughts on the rapidly derailing “Wait, one of my Best Friends is Sobbing Uncontrollably, What do I do?” Train when Kurapika hiccuped softly.

“I-I can’t seem to stop,” the boy beside him said shakily, between sobs. “I apologize. I thought I would be in control of this by now.”

Leorio consulted his brain for what to do. _No action movie lines in here,_ he thought. _I’ll just have to wing it._

“You don’t have to be so formal with me, y’know. We’re friends, not business associates. And everyone has to cry sometimes,” Leorio sighed. “It’s no good keeping it all bottled up in that overworked brain of yours.”

Surprisingly, Kurapika didn’t take the bait for a fight like he usually would, but instead, looked up at him with swollen, red eyes and nodded curtly. There was raw vulnerability there that made Leorio’s face heat up at the same time that his heart sank.

It was probably awful of him to think what he thought at that moment. It was probably even more awful of him to actually consider doing it.  
He really, really wanted to kiss Kurapika. He wanted to cup those cheeks and feel the way they warmed under his thumbs. He wasn't sure why he hadn't acknowledged that before, but it probably had less to do with the fact that he just hadn’t thought about it and more to do with the fact that he had been running around for years trying to stop them both getting killed or seriously injured (the latter had not been a successful mission). But now, in the face of Kurapika’s flushed and tearful expression, he could no longer deny that he had always had feelings there towards his friend, and they had a less than likely chance of actually being returned. But right now… he would have to wait to act upon those feelings. A relationship was quite likely not on the list of the top five things Kurapika wanted at the moment, despite the gaping hole in that list left by "avenge my murdered clan". What he needed most right now, Leorio decided in his newly-found wisdom, was a companion.

So he wrapped his arms around his terrifyingly beautiful friend’s shaking shoulders, and held him until his choked sobs finally subsided.

Only one word ran through his mind at that moment: beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. He was so utterly beautiful, and damn it, Leorio had always thought so, somewhere in the back of his mind, but he had never given himself the chance to really think about what that meant before.

“You know,” Kurapika remarked after the kind of long silence that came after emotional breakdowns, “You’re an old geezer, you’re a gold digger, and you have not an ounce of decency in you on some days-“

“Hey! Don’t call me-“Leorio fell for the old banter in a heartbeat, jumping up off the couch and tensing his body. Then he noticed a finger held up in front of him.

“But you really care about your friends. I can’t remember having ever granted you that before. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” the older man muttered, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“There were a few people like you in my clan- in my family, even.”

Leorio was taken aback, to say the least. It was the first time he had ever heard Kurapika talk about his clan, let alone his family.

“Listen, Kurapika, I don’t think it’s a good idea to-“

“I know.” Relief flooded Leorio when he saw the briefest of smiles appear on Kurapika’s face. “It’s okay. I wanted to share that with you."

After that, they didn’t really notice the length of the silences between their sentences. They just stayed there on the couch, not lost in their thoughts, but in the weight of the words that had gone before.

“There’s an old Kurta tale about a traveller,” Kurapika said, ending one of those silences. “I think it’s repeated in several cultures’ folklore, actually, but it’s the same every time. This traveller, having lost his home, decides to cross the mountains to make a new life.”

Leorio stayed silent, unsure of where this was going.

“The traveller manages to make it a little way along the pass when he sees an old woman. She’s starving. Having plenty of supplies, the traveller gives her half his bread. He accepts her gratitude and continues on.

“The traveller is halfway along the pass when he meets a man who has been trampled by his horse. He is still alive, so the traveller offers to treat the man’s wounds. He accepts the man’s gratitude and moves on.”

Kurapika took a deep breath. “On the final and most perilous stretch of the pass, the traveller finds a young girl who says she has lost her parents in the fog. He offers for her to travel with him until she finds her parents. However, while he sleeps, she robs him of all his belongings and when he hears her and wakes up, she slits his throat. But as he lays there dying, he regrets nothing.”

Leorio gulped with the gravity of the story. Why would you tell that kind of tale to your children, even if it was cautionary? He realised that he had underestimated the Kurta Clan long ago, when he insulted their bloodline in front of the man before him

“At first, I thought you were like that child: self-obsessed and cold-hearted, an obstacle to my goals. Of course, that changed over time.” Kurapika met his eyes, and Leorio swore his heart painfully skipped a beat. “But as it so happened, I was the child all along. I took you for granted.”

Leorio's blood was boiling in more ways than one at that point. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't angry at Kurapika. It was just that after being removed from it for so long, he felt a bit of Kurapika's rage towards the people who had made him feel this way. But he knew that conflict played no part in the present. It hit him again: it was over. From here, they moved on. Kurapika moved on. And this was the first part of that journey. He somehow felt humbled to be part of that.

“Listen here,” he said, jabbing his finger into the other man's chest. “I do this stuff for you because I l- care about you. Y-you know, like friends do,” he added hurriedly, not missing Kurapika's quiet chuckle. “And I don’t care if I’m that traveller guy. I’ll always look after you, Gon, Killua, whoever- okay, maybe not Hisoka or Ging, but that's besides the point. What, uh, what I'm trying to say is, it’s fine. Man, seeing you so sincere about this stuff is kind of freaking me out. Where's the kid who attacked me with kitchen utensils back in the Hunter Exam? And now I'm just talking to myself, so, uh..." 

He broke off, his palms sweaty. It was cheesy, even by his standards, but it worked. Leorio had officially won the non-existent award for seeing the last member of the Kurta clan drowning in sorrow and doubled over and giving a warm, relaxed smile in the same day. Kurapika really was strong, both physically and emotionally.

“I think we’re more alike than we thought," Kurapika said. 

“I knew that already, geez,” he said in disgruntlement,“I was just waiting for you to hurry up and realise it.”

“You could have fooled me.”

 

They settled down on the couch after that, pressed close together.

“So I assume this is the part where I start living?” Kurapika murmured, his eyes fluttering shut. 

“And you say I’m the one who’s thick. You've always been living to me, you idiot.”

They fell asleep wrapped in each other, soothed by their steadily beating hearts and slowing breaths.

 

Later, when he awoke, and through the haze of lingering drowsiness, he felt soft lips- slowly, tentatively yet sweetly- brushing the corner of his mouth. The last thing he heard was another, whispered “thank you”, and the sound of the front door clicking closed.

He woke up the next morning to a sore neck and a glaringly empty couch. His heart sank for a moment and he repelled it with a sigh.  
“Some things never change, I guess. That guy’s really such a handful,” he grumbled with eyes squinting, kneading at his neck to relieve some of the pain.

He almost dropped his coffee cup later when he noticed the note on the table.

_Pardon the intrusion. I have to go to work now, but I’ll be back tonight. That is, if you’ll have me._

“Who’s he kidding?” said Leorio, blushing furiously. “Of course I will.”


End file.
